Charlie Tyler's Blog

The story I am currently writing opens with a nun finding two dead bodies at the bottom of a concealed hole in the ground. One is a recently demised corpse which has been thrown on top of another victim’s charred remains. What a lovely imagination I have! Anyway, in true Charlie style, I have adapted this idea of an underground cell to suit my own purposes, but the idea is based on an oubliette; a torture chamber taken straight out of the Medieval Ages. It is more commonly held nowadays that such cruel usage only came into being during the 15th/16th centuries and went on to become a popular topic of nineteenth century gothic fiction. It is, however, far more likely that in Medieval times they were used as basement storerooms, water-cisterns or latrines.

Oubliette means a little place of forgetting. The prisoner would have been lowered by a rope into a small vertical space with only room to stand up; no sitting, kneeling or turning around. The rope was then taken away and the trap door (angstioch) closed with the person unable to reach it and therefore they were left alone and in complete darkness. There they would have stayed (at the mercy of a forgetful jailer who often left them to starve to death) before the next poor victim was thrown on top of their corpse.  Utterly terrifying.

A fine example of an oubliette can be found in Caesar's Tower at Warwick Castle.

The first ever book I wrote, almost a decade ago, was a children’s book called Marvellous Mrs Mole and the Candy Cane. After that I went on to write a couple of YAs and, for a couple of years, worked with an agent from a big UK firm before being dropped.

The Cry of the Lake is the fifth full length adult book I’ve written and is the only one to have been published. Each of the other four were completed, edited and sent off to agents and publishing houses; two got as far as full manuscript requests before they were rejected, but none of the others managed to slide their way off the slush pile. And with good reason – they weren’t very good!

But when you’ve slaved for over a year on something and had it in your thoughts for such a long stretch of time, it’s hard to let go. As with all artists throwing themselves into the public arena – you have to have the skin of a rhino and these early rejections have certainly helped to create some of the necessary armour for the inevitable criticism. Don’t get me wrong, negative comments are never easy to hear, but I’m quite experienced; I have a quick blub then move swiftly on. But the most important thing I’ve realised is that these rejections are necessary pre-cursors to the real deal. They are me, swimming with a buoyancy aid in the shallow end, waiting for someone to notice my fabulous doggy paddle and let me into the big pool.

But, and here’s the most brilliant thing about all these rejected tales, parts of them still remain fabulous. And there’s nothing to stop you going back to the earlier stories and pinching your own ideas back.

I’m fairly obsessed with lakes and ponds - they always seem to crop up somewhere in my writing. One of my villains in The Cry of the Lake, Uncle Frank, is a watered-down version of a previous, more odious character. The setting of the book I’m currently writing is straight out of another story I wrote about bullying within a girls’ boarding school and the major incident which occurs I borrowed from one of my earlier YA stories. So, in this era where recycling is essential, I’m delighted to say, I’m doing it with words.

I’m not sure Mrs Mole and her skill of making delicious peppermint candy canes will make it into another book but I’ll keep you posted.

I’ve been going on about it forever but Tuesday 21st is the official launch day for my debut novel, The Cry of the Lake.

It’s going to be a super busy day and I hope that you’ll be able to pop onto FB, Insta and Twitter to share in the celebrations. You can catch me on IGTV and Facebook throughout the day where I’ll be reading a couple of extracts from the book.

It is also the first day of my Random Things Tour hosted by Anne Cater so I’ll get to hear what the lovely bloggers have made of it.

There are competitions running on Insta (a tag and repost) and FB (caption competition) so do enter for a chance to win a £25 book token from Kibworth Books (available to purchase items in store or online) and a £25 Amazon voucher. (The winners will be announced during the Q&A).

For those who are local, I will be in Kibworth Books signing copies from 3pm until 4pm – it would be great if you could join me for a glass of pink fizz and a terrifying skull biscuit (courtesy of Gina and Hattie). All the appropriate Covid-19 safety measures will be in place.

At 4.30pm (BST) there will be a half hour Q&A with Debbie James from Kibworth Books. Do feel free to leave a question here on the blog.

Join in live, or catch up later at your leisure. Thank you all so much for your support.

I’ve had a lot of very positive comments about the artwork for The Cry of the Lake which was designed in-house by darkstroke. I love my cover and, though some might say it was a little tragic, have even turned it into a phone case. But the initial idea I had for the cover was very different to the end product, not least, because the original title was The Forget-me-not Crown. There was also a last-minute change of colour scheme. So, I wanted to speak to the designer about what he thinks makes an eye-catching cover and how he goes about fulfilling a brief which keeps both the author and publisher happy.

,How long have you been the art designer for Crooked Cat/darkstroke and roughly how many covers do you think you have produced over the years?

I’ve been working with darkstroke since it started as an imprint, in January 2019. Before that I worked with Crooked Cat, the main branch of the company, and had done since September 2011. I’ve contributed, to a greater or lesser extent, to the design of 701 covers over this time.

,I know from personal experience that darkstroke give their authors a strong input into their cover design whereas a lot of my published friends are given theirs as a fait accompli.  Why are you so proactive when it must make a lot of extra work? 

In the long run, working collaboratively, and in a guided way with authors, is a good thing. They know their story better than anyone, and they know the tone of the story. Since our authors are at the heart of the marketing of their story, it makes sense to us for them to have a hand in the design. 

,Can you give a brief description of how you take your ideas and turn them into a physical cover., 

I would tend to start by pooling for ideas. I may ask an author what they think their story is about, and what their audience might be for it - young, old, male, female, British, North American, and so on. This offers scope for the design - the sort of vibes that it gives off! I sometimes ask the author to check out books on their bookshelves, or in Amazon to search for a story that they really admire. This can help us to narrow things down even further.

Since it is the first thing that people see, we consider the front of the book to begin with. There’s a specific size that we need to design for, and certain rules of design that we tend to keep in the backs of our minds.

My tools of the trade are Photoshop and Illustrator. We acquire the licence for, or create from scratch, the various visual elements of the design, and bring them together carefully. A design is built on layers, the same is true for the work of a sculptor or a painter. There may be ten or more full attempts to get it right before the author and we are happy with that front cover.

I then move to design the full wraparound paperback design.

,,What do you think makes a good cover?  Are there any tricks of the trade you would be willing to share here?

A bad cover design tries to tell the story of the book, a good one offers the tone of the story. A bad cover might contain unintentional design flaws - text that is difficult to read, colours that clash, visual elements that seem to clutter the space, are poorly devised or considered. A good cover might appear too simple, with contrasting colours and with sufficient factual visual information for the casual bookstore browser to stop and look.

It’s all about giving the reader enough of a visual cue to choose to read the story within. Text is the most important thing on a cover, the images or illustrations are the least important.

,,Is there a cover that you are so proud of, you have framed it and put it up on your wall?  If so, what makes it so special?

I particularly like the original illustrations that Crooked Cat and darkstroke have used over the years, from Tom Gillespie’s 2013 story, ,Painting by Numbers,, and Amy Elliott Smith’s ,A Guide to Becoming Distinctly Average,, to Maggie Reid’s 2014 book, ,The Quiet Life of Marta G. Ziegler,, and finally the adapted illustrations that were used in more recent years - Joy Norstrom’s ,Out of Play,, Deirdre Palmer’s ,Dirty Weekend,, and Emma Mooney’s ,Wings to Fly,. 2020’s ,The Cry of the Lake, is a continuation of that trend and, for me, it is one of our strongest recent cover designs. All examples don’t, indeed, try to tell the story in the design. Their design offers the viewer a sense of what the story is.

One of the key incidents in the book happens around a fictional village in whose surrounding fields lies a rather strange looking well. It is, by no means, a fairy tale wishing well. It is actually a rectangular patch of slimy water you could quite easily fall into were it not fenced off. For those of you who are Leicestershire locals, you might recognise it as being a literary steal - it is a replica of the well in Tur Langton which was, according to legend, used by King Charles I to water his horses on his return from defeat at The Battle of Naseby (1645). According to The Megalithic Portal the brick surround dates from 1813.

Two years ago, I was walking the footpaths around Tur Langton with my husband and daughter, Hattie, and, after quite a bit of searching for the well, we eventually found it. Its underwhelming appearance came as a big surprise and the image stayed in the back of my mind so that when I started thinking about a fictional village festival for my story, King Charles’s Well immediately popped back into my thoughts. I decided to create a village celebration called ‘Monarchy Day’ which would revolve around giving thanks for the existence of the well.

Do go and visit it if you get the chance and send me a selfie. The first three to share on Instagram with the hashtag #TheCryOfTheLake will win a voucher to spend at Kibworth Books. The well is located between Tur Langton and Stonton Wyville. The countryside around there is beautiful and maybe, lockdown rules permitting, you could stop off for a drink at ,The Crown Inn,, afterwards.

A book review – warning this review includes minor spoiler alerts regarding the character of Titus Oates.

I love history presented in fictional form. I enjoy the feeling that I’m learning something as I read, but don’t want to feel like I’m stuck in a history lesson. The real indication that I’ve enjoyed a historical novel is that, immediately the story ends, I can’t stop thinking about it and I’m straight away digging around trying to find out more corroborative facts. The Road to Newgate combines meticulous research with a real mystery which continues to intrigue right through to the very end of the story.

I didn't know anything about the Popish Plot. Most people have heard of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot, but, perhaps not the Popish Plot and the role Titus Oates played in it. And guess what, Titus Oates is from my part of the world, Oakham, Rutland. It is not a spoiler alert to say that Titus Oates is the villain in all of this. Braithwaite presents him as odious – her description of him made my flesh crawl – he is like ‘a fat toad on a lily pad’ with an ‘ugly way of speaking’. But what I couldn’t get over was how he managed to rise to such high prominence and all this even though he was considered a ‘great dunce’ during his time at Cambridge. It would appear that his very sharp memory and ability to speak well in public assisted his meteoric rise to power.

The character of Nat Thompson is based on an amalgamation of Sir Roger L’Estrange, who was instrumental in the examination of Titus Oates’s claims, and a man called Nathaniel Thompson who published pamphlets against Oates, but whose personal details aren’t detailed. Similarly, many of the other characters have their names embedded in history but Kate breathes life to them with her beautiful depiction of their imagined relationships and their everyday struggles to forge a place in society.

Ultimately the story is a mystery. It starts with finding of the body of missing magistrate, Sir Edmund Godfrey, and how events escalated after this which resulted in a major persecution of the Jesuits. But Godfrey’s death is a puzzle – why did he end up in a ditch in Primrose Hill? There is also the ongoing dilemma of William Smith’s secret which you will be desperate to see resolved. Combined with this historical weave is the very real setting of life in London 1678 and the dismal coffee houses. It’s a cruel, often bleak world, and Kate doesn’t stray away from some fairly unpleasant details. The presentation of Newgate and ‘Little Ease’ – a hole some poor unfortunates were placed inside as a form of torture, gave me nightmares. So, I’m not going to lie, you might need to brace yourself at times.

I really, really loved this book. If you want to find out more do go and check out Kate’s website

A short story by Charlie Tyler

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'My card's been declined,’ said Mary. He elevated an eyebrow; a mere jot, but it was enough.

‘Oh, not this again,’ she hissed. ‘Jay-cee is our only son. He deserves to be spoilt, especially after all you put the poor lamb through.’ With that, she pushed the waiter forward and stormed off.

He sighed, reaching into his gown for his Rhodium Amex. The waiter placed the card-reader in front of him and he peered at the screen, unsure what to press; he’d never been good at the small stuff – always preferring a large, blank canvas.

‘Bloody love you, Dad,’ said Jay, slumping down on his right-hand side, taking a glug of Beaujolais Nouveau. ‘Best. Party. EVER.’

He handed Jay the machine. ‘You do it, I’m off.’

‘Don’t go. There’s karaoke and…ooh!’ Jay frowned. ‘How much shall we tip?’

‘TIP!!’ Fire and brimstone spurted up his oesophagus. ‘It’s a crappy buffet.’ The waiter stared at his feet. ‘I’m setting it in stone, Son, no more outside caterers. From now on it’s manna or famine. You’re to tip nothing; that’s a commandment.’

‘Hash-tag-sad-face,’ said Jay. ‘Flatbreads with smoked fish inside - radical.’

‘It’s a bloody sandwich, Jay.’ That was enough; his throne scraped against the marble plinth as he rose to his feet.

‘Oh! Dad, ditch the sackcloth, it’s my birthday party. Hey! What about a riddle to turn that frown upside down.’ For a nano-second he froze. ‘A number puzzle.’ Hidden symbolism; his spine tingled.

‘I’ve thought of a figure. If you can guess its connection with Adam then we won’t pay the tip. If not, then these guys here are going to get fifty-five million, three hundred and seventy-eight thousand and eight pounds to take home.’ CRASH! The waiter slumped to the floor. Jay set the timer on his Apple watch. ‘Ten seconds.’ This was going to be as easy as hiding Moses in the bulrushes.

55378008

Stars in the Milky Way? Deepest part of the Ocean? Something to do with the beginning of time? No: Jay wasn’t interested in the past.

‘Time’s up.’

He blinked. He didn’t know. But…but…he was omniscient.

Jay pressed proceed. ‘That was fun,’ said Jay, handing him the receipt. ‘Flip it,’ he winked, skipping off; crowds thronging about him, as usual.

He squinted: BOOBLESS. Well, of all the sinful, wicked…

‘Testing. Testing.’ Jay-cee’s voice echoed around the hall. ‘Just want to give a big shout out to the Boss Man.’ The guests whooped. ‘And who better to kick off proceedings than Dad with a Chesney classic.’

Bloody marvellous! He’d always been quick to anger, vengeful, some might say, and, as he headed for the stage, he tried to swallow down the steam which was spurting out of his nostrils. That boy needed a spot of inward contemplation…and a haircut. Suddenly, it hit him, like a thunderbolt; he’d send Jay on a forty-day retreat. Old school punishment. Right in the middle of the wilderness. He picked up the mike, winking at his son.

‘I am the One and Only…’

Today I visited my friend, Debbie, who owns the gorgeous bookshop in our village. Masks on, we discussed the logistics of signing and handing out copies of The Cry of the Lake whilst at the same time, keeping up the social distancing. But what about cake and glasses of Prosecco too? More thinking to be done, but in the meantime, I'm getting very excited at the thought of seeing my debut novel on her shelves. It's been a dream of mine for a long time and finally it's going to come true. Roll on July 21st!